Composite sheet material



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May 21, 194s..-

i. PaieniedMey 21.1946

' UNITED. s.'rA'1l;-s -PA'rlzN'r oFFlcE *l asomar f j.

v comosn'E snEE'r MATERIAL vFri-uni w. clark, sanmdrmine.' minor, by

meme assignments, to Goodall-Sanford, Inc., sanforlllliaine, :corporation of Maine application February ze, i942. sei-iai No.asor i .sommatoria-46) This' invention' .resides in a v: :omposite sheet vmaterial :for shoe soles and other articles where it is desirable or essential'to resist wear and slippage and the object `oi' the invention is to provide ahighly' eilicient'material for s uch purposes.

Y The composite sheet material of this invention comprisesa Vi'acelayer of woven pile fabric in l which the body of the'pile is nued'wah a yecn- A tinuous body of tough, flexible rubber material superposed upon ythe groundof the pile fabric and adherent to the ground and with the pile i embedded in and inherent to the rubber mate-l rial. The construction is such that the pile stands substantially upright-'and forms with the rubber material,l a, flexible, tough, durable massv with fibres of the pile projecting at the face. There is thus presented by the combination of the rubber material surface and the hairy nbres projecting therefrom, a highly wear-resistant, non-slip surface. The material also comprises one or more layers of fiat flexible .fibrous material, preferably 1 a plurality of layers of flat woven ytextile fabric.

superposed on the back of the ground of the pile fabric with intermediate layers of adhesive binding material impregnating the ground ofthe pile fabric and the said superposed layers and adhes'ively bonding all together in a solid, flexible sheet of the required thickness.

The material is particularly desirable for use forshoe soles. It isreadily cut to the required :shape and readily attachable' in place in the shoe by sewing, by nailing, orV by cementing in accordance with the usual shoe making procedure.` The material is waterproof andy when 'metallic nails are not employed, presents high electrical insulating qualities so that when used as a shoe sole, it protects the wearer against electric shock.

The material of this invention, by reason of the aforesaid characteristics, is highly useful among other purposes for the soles of shoes worn by soldiers and sailors in military tanks, on naval vessels, and elsewherel as well as byemployees in. manufacturing establishments.

The material of the invention may also be employed, with its wear-resistant face uppermost, as a covering for floors and for other purposes where its characteristics are useful.

The nature and objects of the invention lwill appear more fully from the accompanying description and drawing and will be particularly pointed out inthe claims.A

form ofthe invention with the elements considand enlarged' for purposes of acteristics, is highly resistant to wear and readily maintains an upright position with fibres projecting. from .the rubberI material referred to. -Wool` fibre is also satisfactory for the pile and mixtures also of mohair, wool and rayon may be employed.

While the weave of the -pile fabric may vary, the best results are secured with what is known as the v-pile weave, woven without'stufler warps. 'i

This type of fabric, with a light 'coating of adhesive binding material upon the back of the ground, has long been employed in the manufacture of upholstery pile fabric. .In this type of material, the construction is such that the pile vnormally stands upright and the pile is uniformly and evenly distributed throughout.

In the drawing: l' v Fig. 1 is a view in perspective of a portion of composite sheet material embodying a preferred erably distorted illustration.

Fig. 2 is an illustrative, more or less diagram-` matic, view of a means employed for applying adhesive binding material and securing the bonding together of the various layers making up the completed material.

Fig. 3 is a view in perspective, also enlarged and distorted, to illustrate one construction by which the non-slip character of the material'is increased bythe shape of the face.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of a portion ofthe material embodying the invention illustrating another construction in whichA the wear-resistant and non-slip characteristics are increased.

Fig. 5 is a view in perspective illustrating a shoe with a' sole embodying the invention embodied therein.

' the ground of cotton.

illustrated as comprising-the ground warps l in- The material of this invention embodies as one element a woven textile pile fabric. The ground of such a fabric made up oi warp and filling yarns The face layer of the composite sheet material lolf this invention, as already pointed out. comprises a lwoven textile pile fabric, and, as above noted, preferably of the V-weave type with the pile formed of mohair or other suitable fibre and Inl Fig. 1, the ground is terlaced with the -lling yarns 2. The pile tufts 3 are formed of the pileiwarpand vout in the usual way and, as illustrated, present Vs with each v engaging a ground weft '2. Thus. the body of -pile formed by the V tufts stands upright and is evenly and uniformly distributed throughout the porous. Pile fab the back has long been 'manufactured endemployed for upholstered material and is described in the patent of Nutter, No. 1,778,196, October 14, 1930. After the pile is preferably scoured to remove any maining in the pile.

The pile fabric has then applied tothe pile, as by a spreader or by frictioning in, rubber material so that the entire `body of pile is with this rubber material grease rewith the rubber material super-DOSed upon and adhering to the ground,

throughout in the and with the pile embedded rubber material and adhering ber material is indicated extending between the tufts of pile but also extending into and through the pile tufts themselves. 'Ifhis rubber material, as thus applied, forms acontinuous body extending from the ground of the pile fabric upward but leaving fibres 6 of the pile projecting from the surface. i

The term rubber material" as' employed herethereto. This rubin and in the claims is used to include either latex, natural rubber, reclaimed rubber, vartificial or gm synthetic rubber when properly compounded in the-usual way. as required for the purpose. 1t must -be flexible, tough, and durable so that it will not, crack or break when the sheet material is in A wide variety of for this purpose` may be made up by anyone skilled in the rubber-coating art. Simply as an illustration, and when latex is available, a suitable compound for this purpose is as follows: in parts. by weight.

As another illustration as may be as follows Di-pentamethylene-thiuram tetrasulphide..` 1 In any of the compounds suitable pigments pre- 4 ferred instead of dyes, may be added to giveany desired'color eect for decoration or otherpur- 50' pOSeS.

building up 'the ground to present the require thickness.' .While under some conditions,v

' inciting grooves and ridges or some this ric thus woven and coated on l material suitable for thisv fabric has thus been coated, it 10 layers together must thoroughly penetrate the ground of the pile fabric and the superposed layin Fig. 1 at 5 not only '20 tothe surface g5 rubber compounds 85 4 ized by the ordinary methods.

. Parts Rubber (as normal latex) 100 Zinc oxide 3 Phenyl-beta-naphthylamine 2 Sulfur 1.25 45 Zinc salt of dibutyl dithiocarbamic acid .75 l Casein l 1.00

for example when reclaimed rubber is employed a. suitable compound so The sheet material must next be completed d j its thickness is readily ycaused to vary coinciden may be done'in the process of manufacturing a 55 shoe or similar article, the outset so that the composite sheet, material. is a finished product subsequently applied to .the shoe or to vany' other purpose for which it is The building up of the` one or lmore layers of flat lflexible fibrous material suitable for constituting a shoe sole or other article and, is illustrated as a of flat woven textile fabric such as cotton sheetlground is secured by r sent pile and embedding rubber higher than the plurality of Vlayers it is preferably done .at

the invention is shown in .mally t asin'dlcated in v ing the height ef therme by ing superposed on the back of the ground with intermediate layers of suitable adhesive binding material impregnating the ground and 'these l'ay-4 ers of fabric sojas adhesively to bond all together in a solid flexible sheet. VAny adhesive binding may be em- I purpose A ployed. Concentrated latex of about 60% is highly satisfactory, but if not obtainable, reclaimed rubber dispersione are satisfactory.

The adhesive binding material for bonding the method for securing this result is illustrated in Fig. 2, wherein pressure is indicated as applied by--a pair `of pressure rolls 1 while the pile fabric with its pile face lled with the rubber material is indicated 'at 8 and a plurality of layers of nat woven textile fabric at 8. Before these enter the pressure rolls, they are held separated so-that a plurality. .of spray nozzles i0 may be located in transverse rows between them. As. .the several4 layers pass to the pressure rolls, the adhesive binding material is sprayed from the nozzles I0 onto the opposed surfaces of the layers and as the layers come together and are subjected to pressure by the rolls, this binding material, thoroughly distributed over the surfaces by the spray nozzles, is forced into and' through the interstices of thefabrlc layers. The result is that al1 the layers are adhesively solid flexible sheet, the

woven material, such as sheeting, employed.

Theentire sheet material is dried and vulcan- The face of the composite sheet materialis nor-- Fig. 1 because the height of the pile is normally uniform. Since the pile is maintained and held by the rubber material substantially erect, the wear takes place transversely xof the pile fibres and strands and is thus highly resisted especially with mohair and the non-slip characteristic is very high. The non-slip character of this tread face of the material is, however, increased in this invention by a construction in which the height of thepile and the thickness of the embedding rubber .material coincidentally vary in. some predetermined plan. as' for, example, by presenting aseries of alter other pattern l of depressions and elev tions. This may be secured either by varying the height of the pile during the 'weaving of the pile fabric or by varya sl'learins operation. When the embedding rubber material is applied'- by the spreader or by frictioning into the pile fabric with the height vof the pile thus varying,

tally with the height of the pile and thus the non-v sllpcharacter of the tread-.face is increased.

In Fig. 3 composite sheet material embodying v which the height of the pile and the thickness .of the embedding rubber coincidentally vary to form alternating ridges Il and 'grooves I2 while in Fig. 4 a pattern variation is formed' in vwhich the darker portions I3 reprelighter portions Il.

bonded together in a l thicknessof which degne pends primarily upon the number of layersof flat Ato a shoe ls is Fig. 5 and, as heady pointed out, may be sewed, nailed or cemented in place. But

whether used for this purpose, for iloor covering,

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new, and desired -to be secured by Letters Patent, is:

1. Composite sheet material for shoesoles and other articles required to resist wear and slippage comprising a face layer of woven textile fabric having a ground and a body of upstandlng pile with a continuous body of tough exible rubber materialvsuperposed upon and adherent to the groundwith-the pile wholly embedded in and adherent to the rubber material except that'the iibers of the pile project from the surface of the' rubber material to form with said surface a nonslip tread face, and with the height of the pile and the thickness of the embedding rubber material coincidentally varying in a predetermined plan, thereby to increase the non-slip character of the tread face.

. rial act to resist wear and at all times the surface of the combined materials acts to resist slippage.V

2. Composite sheet material for shoe soles and other articles required to resist wear and slippage e comprising a face layer of woven textile fabric having a ground and abody of upstanding pile with a continuous body of tough ilexible' rubber material superposed upon and adherent to the ground with the pile wholly embedded' in and adherent to the rubber material except that the ilbers of the pile project from the surface of the rubber material to form with said surface a nony slip tread face, and with the height of the pile and thickness of the embedding rubber material coincidentally varying to form alternating grooves and ridges acting to increase the nonsllp character of the tread face.

3. Composite sheet material for shoe soles and other articles required to resist wear and slippage comprising a face layer of woven textile fabric having a ground and a body of upstanding pile with a continuous body of tough rflexible rubber material superposed upon and adherent i to the ground with the pilel wholly embedded in and adherentl to the rubber material except that the fibers of the pile project from the surface of the rubber material to form with saidsurface a non-slip tread face, and with the height of thev pile and the thickness of the embedding' rubber material coincidentally varying in a pattern of depressions and elevations acting to increase the non-slip character of the tread face.

FRANK W. CLARK. 

